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“...Socialist Party, intoxicated with its big vote, enlarged
and spread out wider its vote-catching nets, heralding every
reformer who was suspected of being in favor of government
ownership of railroads or municipal ownership of water-works
or garbage-burning plants, as coming our way. And with
te possibilities of landing somebody in office the Socialist
Party attracted to itself large quantities of would-be intellec-
tuals, physicians without a practice, lawyers without clients
ministers of the gospel without congregations, all with hearts
bleeding for the suffering working class, all possessed with
the Itch for office and the gift of smooth talk. Thus the So-
cialist Party grew rapidly. Once having gained the numbers,
that m turn gave that movement the momentum to gain still
larger numbers and still smaller proportions of the kind of
numbers that are needed to carry out the social revolution.
S. L. P.s Tenacity a Surprise
The innocents among the rank and file of the Socialist
Party could...”
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“...against us we must see to it
that that charge has no hook upon which it can be hung, and
failing that, we fail in our duty.
Now, as to the errors that crop out of Caminitas brain.
He certainly is perpetrating a joke, or else he is woefully mis-
informed.
He said if you keep the political clause in here, then it
S a Socialist organization, but if you will strike out the po-
litical clause then you will be greeted as an economic or-
ganization. Why, that is a brand new discovery. Socialism
IS the gospel of the labor movement. Socialism says that la-
bor produces all wealth, but under the capitalist system of
production it is not a human being, it is merchandise, and
there is no hope of anybody recruiting his wages, and cap-
italism will lead to worse and worse conditions. That is So-
cialism, and Socialism says that the emancipation of the work-
ing class must be brought about by the collective ownership
of the means of production. That is Socialism.
To say that we do not want to be a Socialist...”
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“...to talk through the bars of a door leading into the main
hall. I had the special privilege to talk half an hour each
day to some representative of the Detroit I.W.W. But each day
persons were admitted into the jail hall itself, where they
could freely converse with the prisoners. These were persons
who had some pull with the sheriff.
De Leons Visit to the Prison
One set of people seemed to have more of this privilege
than any other; they were clergymen of all denominations. A
minister of the Gospel had evidently the right above anyone
else to come when he liked and go when he pleased. These
gentlemen preached and held religious services very frequent-
ly. Nothing was allowed to interfere with these services or
prayer meetings.
One day I was called to the barred door to speak to vis-
itors. The visitors were Comrade De Leon and Paul Augus-
tine, the then national secretary of the Socialist Labor Party.
The very sight of De Leon made me and Yomg forget our
tribulations. I asked the guard...”
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